Men’s national coach Gordon Herbert has received another award. He was recently named Finnish “Coach of the Year” at a major gala live on Finnish television. In addition to his Canadian citizenship, the world champion coach also has Finnish citizenship, which he has held since 1989.
Herbert was voted into first place by Finnish sports journalists by a clear margin. Among the nominees was Tuomas Iisalo, who has already worked successfully in the BBL for the Crailsheim Merlins and Telekom Baskets Bonn and now works as a coach at Paris Basketball. In his acceptance speech, Herbert made special mention of Iisalo and attested to his NBA potential.
For the first time in the history of the award, two basketball players were chosen, with NBA star Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz) receiving the coveted prize on the athlete side. Herbert is the second basketball coach to receive this award in Finland after Henrik Dettmann (2002, also men’s national coach at the time).
